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Daily Dojo: A-Rod and the PED fix

By letting Alex Rodriguez play and not invoking a clause that is seldom used that would have prevented him from playing, Bud Selig has turned Alex Rodriguez, and the Yankees, into a sympathetic figure. Last night, Ryan Dempster went right after Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod and the Yankees did nothing wrong, but Joe Girardi gets tossed because of something a Red Sox pitcher did? This is one of the things that needs to be fixed in baseball. I am of the opinion that the ejection system for throwing at batters and the retaliation needs to be changed, and that, right now, it is a much bigger issue for the game of baseball than PED’s. That whole Red Sox v. Yankees game with A-Rod had a lot of interesting parts. Here are some of my favorite tweets from the night.

So if Sabathia retaliates, the Yankees lose their SP after 1+ innings. Super fair.

PED’s can’t really hurt anyone except for the users long-term health and their reputations. Throwing at batters, on the other hand, can get dangerous. Imagine a 98 mph fastball hitting a batter in the head. The helmets are not perfect by any means. Think of it this way… It took Justin Morneau 2 years to get back to normal after sustaining a concussion that was caused by him sliding into someones knee at second base. A 98 mph could be much worse, and if the fastball misses the helmet, but catches the face, a fractured jaw would not be out of the question. That’s just my feeling on the throwing at batters issue in baseball.

Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron

Back to PED’s. No one likes talking about them, but I think it is time to accept them. Now that they are known about, players will never stop using them. I think the only way they would stop is if there was a really strict penalty. Something like one failed test and you are gone for life, and you must pay back all the money you have made as a major leaguer considering it is fraud, I don’t think that this is a radical punishment. I know that this will never happen because of the MLBPA, but I think it should. Since this won’t happen, I think they should just give up and divide the record books in half. You say that anyone who began playing in 1985 (the year Jose Canseco made it to the MLB) or later is a part of the Steroid Era. This would make Barry Bonds the Home Run King of the Steroid Era with 762, and Hank Aaron would be the Home Run King of the Non-Steroid Era with 755. Also, Roger Maris would still have his record for the single season home run record, and Bonds would have his. I know this isn’t perfect, because there were other ways the game wasn’t fair in the Non-Steroid Era. I mean Babe Ruth didn’t have to play against anyone in the Negro Leagues. It cuts the player pool significantly, and there is less talent in the MLB so it was easier for Ruth to dominate. That’s just my opinion. The other thing that isn’t perfect about this is if anyone passes Roger Maris’s Non-Steroid Era single season home run record, it doesn’t matter. Even if the player has never been even remotely accused of using steroids. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s better than some people considering Roger Maris’s 60 home runs as the single season home run record (Chris Davis, among others) even though Bonds obliterated that mark with his 73. It’s my okay solution for a pretty controversial issue in baseball.